Belle Wong: writer, reader, creativity junkie

From the Stacks Reading Challenge

It’s time for some fun! I just discovered the From the Stacks Reading Challenge. The rules are pretty simple: pick five books from your to-be-read pile – meaning, books you already have – and read them all between November 1 and January 30.

I have a massive TBR pile, and this morning I had a ton of fun going through some of the books, seeing what called to me. So I’m officially joining the challenge with the following books, which have jumped to the top of my to-read list (yes, there is a difference between my “to-read” list and my TBR pile!). It’s an eclectic mix, with a little bit of something for (nearly) everyone:

The Risk of Darkness, by Susan Hill. I have been meaning to read this book for quite a while now. I like Susan Hill’s writing style very much, and plan to go through all of her Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler books. (Oddly enough, Amazon lists the hardcover version of this book as being available for pre-order, coming March 2009, while the mass market paperback version is no longer available.)

Princess Izzy and the E Street Shuffle, by Beverly Bartlett. I bought this one in the sale racks; just couldn’t resist the premise: “It all began the day the prince announced his engagement to free-spirited, smart-mouthed, and occasionally klutzy “Dizzy Izzy” (as the papers called her). … With The Boss’ lyrics and her heart guiding her, Izzy did what she had to do: Show the world how a woman can both rock and rule …”

What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship & Love, by Carole Radziwill. I haven’t read a memoir for a while, and this one sounds like it will be good: “… a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince, Anthony Radziwill.”

Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233, by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman. This YA book looks like pure fun. The pages are filled with different fonts and illustrations, and the hardcover version comes with a bag full of interactive goodies. My copy, unfortunately, is the paperback version; the goodies are printed on the front jacket flap, which opens out, and as a series of glossy color pages tucked into the middle of the book.

Trollbridge, by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple. This is a modern-day retelling of the fairy tale about the Three Billy Goats Gruff who must cross the bridge manned by a mean old troll (did I get that right?). It’s an older book, and was the winner of the Locus Award for Best YA Novel. It looks very good indeed.

If you’ve got a TBR stack that you’re planning on getting through anyway, you might want to join the challenge, too.

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I'm a writer, avid reader, artist-at-heart & book indexer. I blog about writing, books, art, creativity, spirituality, & the power of the imagination. Oh, and I like to write stuff about life in general, too!

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." - Stephen King

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The purpose of being a serious writer is not to express oneself, and it is not to make something beautiful, though one might do those things anyway. Those things are beside the point. The purpose of being a serious writer is to keep people from despair. If you keep that in mind always, the wish to make something beautiful or smart looks slight and vain in comparison. If people read your work and, as a result, choose life, then you are doing your job.

“I didn’t write my books for posterity (not that posterity would have cared): I wrote them for myself. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t hunger for readers and fame. I never could have endured so much hard, solitary labor without the prospect of an audience. But this graveyard of dead books doesn’t unnerve me. It reminds me that I had a deeper motive, one that only the approach of old age and death has unlocked. I wrote to answer questions I had — the motive of all art, whatever its ostensible subject. There were things I urgently needed to know. ” James Atlas

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